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LOT 025

AANFM LP QMG RCA SAPQ
1933 - 2004
Canadian

Untitled M-1
oil on canvas
on verso signed, titled on the Heffel Gallery label, dated 1953 and inscribed "From the Artist, MTRL" on a label
8 x 10 in, 20.3 x 25.4 cm

Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

Sold for: $49,250

Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave

PROVENANCE
Collection of the Artist
Heffel Gallery Limited, Vancouver
Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2007, page 184, a similar larger 1954 oil entitled Untitled reproduced page 182


The 1950s were breakout years for Guido Molinari. In autumn of 1953, after a period spent focusing on drawings, Molinari returned to painting, producing a series of small oils. He juxtaposed patches of colour, layered with a palette knife and applied in an intuitive, automatic way, with the patches pushing up against each other and bleeding slightly at their soft edges, filling the canvas from edge to edge. Untitled M-1 is a richly hued and lushly textured example of his new approach. The paintings of this time are tachiste, as Roald Nasgaard wrote, “like those of the Automatistes, but quite anti-, or is it Post-Automatiste, in how they divest themselves of Surrealist illusionary space and reject the muted colours and tonalities of the Automatistes and, for that matter, of the first Plasticiens.” Instead Molinari used pure tones, placing colour form next to colour form in a style of chromatic abstraction. Untitled M-1 is an outstanding work from this painterly, tactile phase in Molinari’s work, before his surfaces would become smooth, his edges hard, and his brushwork minimized in his Stripe and Quantificateur series.


Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

All prices are in Canadian Dollars


Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.